Office of Communications

PHOENIX – State schools chief Tom Horne says the newly-passed state budget includes a change that he has long sought: the elimination of the Kindergarten Entry Assessment (KEA) program, which many educators consider an unnecessary bureaucratic requirement and a waste of classroom time.

PHOENIX – State schools chief Tom Horne is responding to today’s news conference by Save Our Schools attacking the ability of parents to choose the school that best meets their children’s academic needs.

PHOENIX – State schools chief Tom Horne says the initial results of those students tested as part of the department’s Achievement Tutoring Program show gains in academic progress.

PHOENIX – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne has sent letters to the Superintendents of both the Cave Creek and Chandler Unified Districts alerting them to the potential distribution of antisemitic materials on campuses where Amnesty International has a presence.

PHOENIX – State schools chief Tom Horne is applauding the work of three Arizona high school students who were today named as 2024 U.S. Presidential Scholars. This program recognizes high school seniors for their accomplishments in academics, the arts, and career and technical education fields.

PHOENIX – Citing the growing incidents of Fentanyl deaths and overdoses among Arizona school-aged children, schools chief Tom Horne has announced an initiative to supply schools with the anti-overdose drug Narcan and the creation of a statewide task force to address this growing crisis. He has also endorsed an effort to get free anti-drug awareness materials into all Arizona schools.  

PHOENIX – State schools superintendent Tom Horne is praising University of Arizona president Robert Robbins and Arizona State University president Michael Crow for their handling of student protests and says K-12 schools that may be confronted with similar unrest should follow those universities’ model.

PHOENIX - Arizona schools chief Tom Horne has sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Michael Cardona urging him to abandon his threat to shut down Grand Canyon University and instead meet with school leadership to iron out their differences.

State schools chief Tom Horne criticized Governor Katie Hobbs’ veto of a bill he supported that would allow local districts and charters to set a policy restricting the use of mobile devices while students are in class. He pointed out that under the bill, local school authorities would set policies to accomplish that goal.

State schools chief Tom Horne is responding to state legislators who made inaccurate assertions in a letter about the Department of Education’s disbursement of federal education dollars.